Moreover, the respectful reception he met with could not but impress her; it gave reality to what Miss Derwent sometimes laughed at, his claim to be a force in the great world.

Then, that eternal word "Empire" gained somewhat of a new meaning.

She joked about it, disliking as much as ever its baser significance but she came to understand better the immense power it represented.

On that subject, her father was emphatic.
"If," remarked Dr.Derwent once, "if our politics ever fall into the hands of a stock-jobbing democracy, we shall be the hugest force for evil the poor old world has ever known." "You think," said Irene, "that one can already see some danger of it ?" "Well, I think so sometimes.

But we have good men still, good men." "Do you mind telling me," Miss Derwent asked, "whether our fellow-traveller seems to you one of them ?" "H'm! On the whole, yes.